This book is a must read for anyone interested in history, war, and how the practice of intelligence (i.e. spies, encryption, code-breaking, etc.) is equally as important as strategy, weapons, and armies in winning or losing. The story is based on the leadership and brilliance of William Stephenson, a Canadian by birth but with close ties to Britain at very high levels leading up to and during World War II. Stephenson becomes the head of British Intelligence, pushing for establishment of that organization as it became clear (to some, not all) that Hitler was preparing Germany for war. He developed close relationships with both Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt, and aided the secret communication and collaboration between those two leaders before (and after) America entered the war, when Great Britain heavily relied on aid (arms, war materials, ships) from the U.S. His code name, bestowed by Churchill, was "Intrepid", and the organization he ran went by various names over time but the information flowing from its clandestine activities was classified as "Ultra." Even as the organization grew into hundreds of agents and workers, there were strict rules regarding information - no agent, no matter how high up, knew any more than he or she absolutely needed to know for each of their missions or actions. The organization played a very large part in obtaining one of the German "Enigma" encrypting machines, and had a very close relationship with the British team working to break the Enigma codes in Bletchley, England. The book is long, and goes into intimate detail of the tremendous accomplishments of Stephenson's organization, as well as the danger and lost lives resulting from their clandestine activities. As an example, we find out that German General Erwin Rommel, the so-called "Desert Fox" of Tank warfare in North Africa, was not quite the genius we have been led to believe. The Germans had broken the American encryption and Rommel was getting fed information about when, where, and how many troops would be engaging with him, enabling him to beat them to the punch, as it were, and win his battles. It talks of the 1942 planned failure of an invasion, which took thousands of British army lives, across the English Channel to the beaches of France,whose sole purpose was to discover how Germany would react when the real 1944 D-Day landings took place. The action also served to delay Hitler from invading Russia due to the need to divert troops to Western Europe. It is a fascinating read, and I guarantee you will learn, and be amazed, at the many brave people, men and women, who went into the face of danger knowing there was a high likelihood they would not survive. Truth is better than the best fiction in terms of the fascinating revelations held under "Ultra" secret confidentiality for so many years - and could finally be told in this book. Read it!
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- Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2017
- Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2019
Top reviews from other countries
- BoemanReviewed in the United Kingdom on December 6, 2014
"Incredible" truly is the only way to describe this book!
- jeanne harcourtReviewed in Canada on January 1, 2017
this was an excellent book. Anyone who was old enough to be ...
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